Sep 06

We finally found another internet cafe but are pressed for time and I will have to load more photos another time.

The roads are wild here! winding, steep, and Kevin wishes there were more gaurdrails!

Kevin loves the Daytona he is riding...Vicky is not thrilled with having to ride a Triumph Bonneville....apparently, Women are not supposed to ride sport bikes in Greece!!!!!

So far we loved Monemvassia...what an amazing place.
Olympia is impressive.

Kevin went on the optional ride today to visit the temple of Apollo...once again the temple was located very, very high up but the site was worth the white knuckles.

Tommorow is a long day as we head back to Athens.

Monday we fly to Milos!!! yeah!!!

more to follow

Athens is a great place to visit...to bad it is so far away!
The flights over were fine except about 5 hours too long!
After no sleep on the flight from Boston to Paris we had to run to catch our plane to Athens. Then sit in another plane for over three hours. The trip is worth it so far. We were picked up at the airport and taken to ure hotel. The Herodion Hotel very nice and only 1 block from the base of the Acropolis and the Plaka (tourist shopping district)We were exhausted but managed to clean up and meet several of the other people who will be riding in our tour. There is a family from Portland Oregan and a couple from Florida.

Saturday-
We slept ok and after breakfast went to explore Athens and all of the ancient sites...which there are many.

The Acropolis is amazing and it is a beautiful view from way up there but I think we would have enjoyed it more if there were about 5000 less tourists also trying to hike up and take pictures...who knew other people were interested in seeing a very old building!

Tourists!

Temple of Zeus

We walked around the city from 10:00 am till about 3:00 pm
then finally dragged our sore feet back to the hotel to relax a little bit. After a few hours we were off again to have dinner at a cafe and then more walking a window shopping.

grafitti- greek style

Tonight we need to rest up because tomorrow we will start the bike tour! Hope the weather stays as wnoderful as it has been. Sunny, blue sky and about 80 degrees.

Tour Itinerary – Riding Around Greece
Our trip will begin September 14, 2006. that is when our flight from Boston will leave and take us first to Paris and then on to Athens. We will arrive in Athens on Friday at around 1:00 PM. We will be staying at the Herodion hotel in the center of Athens, very close to the Acropolis. Our motorcycle tour doesn’t begin until Sunday morning. Hopefully arriving Friday will give us some time to recover from jet lag and any travel fatigue. We also hope to be able to do some walking around Athens on Saturday. The tour group sent us this great hand bound book – A Walking guide of Athens – it starts off at the Herodion Hotel and takes us step by step to some of the popular tourist sites in the city. It will be fun to check it out.

Our motorcycle tour travels through the Peloponnese, here is the itinerary the tour company sent us.

Day 1 – ride to Corinth canal – Isthmia for coffee, continue on to small monastery for a tour. Lunch in Palea Epidavros harbor, then onto Ancient Epidavros theatre. Ride on to Nafplion, visit Palamidi Castle…then to Tiryns and Mycenae for the evening.

Day 2 – continue down the coast road to Leonidion with its towering cliffs and stop for a swim and coffee in the fishing village of Plaka. Going inland through the mountains we will visit a monastery built on the side of a cliff and stop for lunch in Kosmas. Then on to Monemvassia which has a village built inside a huge rock, a wonderful place for a stroll.
2 nights here.

Day 3 – Optional ride to Kiparissi or spend the day in Monemvassia.

Day 4 Riding to Mystras to visit the ruins of this Byzantine city of churches and palaces. Then down to the bustling port of Gytheio for lunch. Ride along the magnificent east coast to stay in a traditional style Mani hotel in a charming little fishing village.

Day 5 – A short ride to the fabulous Diros Caves where we are rowed in little boats, then back up on to the main road to Kalamata for lunch, stopping to visit a fascinating museum village. Some great riding to Methoni to visit the most lovely Venetian castle of all. We'll stay the night in a charming hotel on the beach just by the castle of Pilos.

Day 6 – Following the coast road we visit Nestor's Palace, then inland through some charming, little known areas to visit Messini. More great winding roads to the Temple of Apollo and on to the mountain village of Adritsena for lunch. Excellent riding onto Olympia, 2 nights in an A class hotel with pool.

Day 7 – optional inland loop ride

Day 8 – Ride to Ancient Nemea and Ancient Corinth. Then a fast ride back to Athens to stay in a good seaside Hotel in Mati. Enjoy final dinner with tour folks.

------------------ end of tour-----------------

Day 9 – Leave Mati for the Airport and catch a morning flight to the Island of Milos – explore the island.

Day 10 – Go to Triovasalos for day of sea kayaking and exploring the island by water

Day 11 – spend day in Milos – evening flight back to Athens area – stay in Aquamarina hotel in Mati again.

Day 12 – Take flight home to Vermont.

Tour Route - Peloponnese

More planning details…I didn't realize how many little details needed to be attended to before we go. Money…how best to take ours with us? Travellers cheques?, ATM card, Credit Card, cash? Can we take our motorcycle helmets on the plane as carry-on luggage? Packing – no matter how little I try and pack it seems we have a way too much stuff to fit in our 2 duffle bags and 2 tankbags which also convert into back packs. I just bought some compression bags and they will be a big help to smoosh down our motorcycle jackets and pants. I am still trying to listen to my Rapid Greek audio but my iPod mini just broke! (Hope most folks will speak english) I’m not sure what to do now! I really depend on having audio books and music, especially when I fly.

We decided to buy a cell phone to use on our trip…I spent several hours online researching through travel sites and forums and finally came up with Mobal.com
For $59.00 USD we can buy a phone with a SIM chip in it which will allow us to call home and have our daughter and other family contact us. The cost of calling back to the US will be per minute-$1.25!. To receive a call it will be about the same and text messages are free. The phone comes with all kinds of stuff and tech support. We figured it was worth a try and hopefully will make it easy to stay in touch when needed.

The tour group we are traveling with is Triumph bike Tours of Greece – they are Deb and Michael Stagonakis. He is Greek and owns a Triumph dealership and Deb is British and has a Graphic design background. They have been running tours for over 11 years.
I have to say that so far they have been great! Deb is very responsive (via e-mail) and has helped us organize and plan our trip. From everything I have heard and read we should be in very good hands. It will be an adjustment to ride a different bike for 8 days.
Kevin and I both ride Kwasaki 600’s, his is an older Ninja and mine is a 2005
ZZR. For the trip we have selected Triumph Daytona’s.